


Business Advice

by omg_okimhere



Category: Ripper Street
Genre: F/M, Suggestive Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-17 08:56:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11272164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omg_okimhere/pseuds/omg_okimhere
Summary: A short story to follow A Man Reborn.  I envision this occurring during a visit later in the summer, when the Judge family vacations at Stone's Throw.





	Business Advice

"Miss Susan, would you say you and I are friends?"  
  
Susan considers the question posed by the woman sharing the sitting room settee with her.  She had been prepared to keep Drake's new paramour at arm's length.  After all, she had been so close to his second wife and unbearably fond of his first.  The savvy businesswoman and former brothel owner didn't know what she could possibly find in common with this dedicated healer steeped in veracity.  In a paradoxical way, Susan is rarely able to trust such an unfailingly honest person, can never quite believe there is not another layer waiting to be revealed.  Yet she finds herself liking this one in spite of herself.  
  
"Of course, Francine, how could we be anything else?"  
  
Francine slices her an aware look, and Susan slides her gaze away in silent acknowledgement of the gentle rebuke.  Francine is without guile, but she is clearly not a naive fool.  
  
"Yes, we are friends, if you will have me," Susan says more sincerely, placing a hand on Francine's forearm.  
  
Beaming a warm smile, Francine covers Susan's touch with a squeeze of her fingers.  She has great empathy for this woman who has paid so dearly for the mistakes in her life.  She admires Susan's resilience, and the fierceness of her love for her family.  And in the moment, she values the other woman's practical experience, as well.  
  
"I _would_ have you as a friend, Susan."  Francine's eyes betray a trace of anxiety as she continues.  "And I would ask your advice in a matter of...business."  
  
"Anything you need," Susan assures her.  "Are you bedeviled by the bookkeeping?"  The holiday rental enterprise is a new venture for the erstwhile university nurse; it would be no wonder were it confusing in the columns and ledgers.  
  
Giving a short laugh, Francine replies, "No, sums are no chore for me."  Her lips quirk, and she raises one eyebrow.  "It is your expertise from the business you ran on Tenter Street that I wish to tap."  
  
An impish grin lights Susan's face.  "Do go on," she invites, almost purring.  
  
Francine looks over her shoulder, making sure they are alone, even though she knows the gents, both big and small, have gone for a buggy ride.  Then she begins, her voice low.  
  
"I am well aware that my darling Bennet has had as wife not one, but two ladies from your employ.  And I by no means begrudge him even one second of the joy he shared with them.  However --" she pauses, searching for the words she rehearsed earlier, " -- I am also aware that he will have become accustomed to a certain variety, certain...pleasures...about which I have little knowledge."  
  
Susan's grin grows wider.  "You would have me school you in ways to enhance your hours in the bedchamber."  
  
Meeting Susan's gaze with frankness, Francine nods.  She anticipates detached discussion, perhaps probing questions; she is not prepared for Susan's next words.  
  
"It would be my pleasure, Francine.  Go fetch a cucumber from the pantry."  


 

 

************************

 

 

 

"I fear I must place you under arrest, madam."  Bennet rolls the words off his tongue in a languid tease, turning his head on the pillow to take in Francine's flushed face.

"How so, Inspector?" she plays along, pushing her tangled hair from her eyes.

Folding one arm behind his head, Bennet elaborates, "That was an act illegal across all of Great Britain and Wales."  _Laws be damned_ , he thinks, already anticipating the next opportunity for wrong-doing.

Reaching out a forefinger to trace a slow line from the hollow of his throat downwards, Francine suggests with a pout, "Perhaps I might offer some sort of inducement to keep my freedom?"

"Bribing the constabulary," grunts Bennet.  "Second offense."

"Oh dear," murmurs Francine in mock dismay.  "Whatever will become of me?"

Bennet twists onto his side, pulling her close.  "No help for it," he growls in his best copper's voice.  "Things are bound to go hard with you now."

Before their intimate laughter dies away entirely, their passion springs to life anew.

 

 

 

*************************

 

 

 

"You're looking uncharacteristically chipper this morning," comments Jackson in greeting the next day, as Bennet joins him on the deck for a post-breakfast smoke.

Inhaling deeply, letting the nicotine wash over senses still sated from the night before, Bennet allows a contented smile to wrap his bearded jaw.  "The love of a good woman will do that."

"Ain't that the truth!" agrees Jackson whole-heartedly, squinting at his friend while drawing in another lungful.  "Care to elaborate?"

Bennet snorts, leaving two tiny puffs of smoke in the air.  "You would be the last person to receive my confidences in such matters."  He feels his blood rising, in embarrassment or anger, or both.

Jackson casts a calculating eye at Drake's discomfiture.  "But something changed," he guesses.  "Something new?"

"None of your god-damned business, Jackson!" Bennet says, his voice tight with warning.

"Calm down," the American responds sardonically, while picking a fleck of leaf from the tip of his tongue.  "You and Francine can keep your secrets."  He knows who to ask next anyway.

If Susan didn't have something to do with this, he'd eat his hat.


End file.
